


A Court of Romance and Arrows

by Totally_not_a_Weeb



Category: Original Work
Genre: Basically a lot of Asian stuff, Canon Gay Character, Canon Gay Relationship, Canon Lesbian Character, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Canon-Typical Violence, Chinese Mythology & Folklore, Established Relationship, F/F, Fantastic Racism, High Fantasy, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, M/M, POV First Person, War, Worldbuilding, Wuxia, mute character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 19:34:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16771495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Totally_not_a_Weeb/pseuds/Totally_not_a_Weeb
Summary: "My name is Li Xue, Empress of Hyan, Commander of Ten Thousand Spears, I am the Raging Storm, and I ride with my marshal and lover, Dai Tu, the Tempest of Steel, the Captain of the Raven’s Call. I bring with me devastation, at my command, your lands will be burned, your crops pillaged and your soldiers overwhelmed. I will give you, both your pathetic excuse for a king and you yourselves, one chance. Surrender while you still have hands to do so, while you still have breath to swear allegiance to me and still have the strength to prostrate yourself before the Raging Storm."The Year is 960 Post Conquest, and in the Sea of Storms, war is brewing. Specifically, on the island of Hyan, The Empire of Hyan has long claimed dominion over the island and now seeks to actually rule it. As such, the Empress of Hyan, Li Xue, the Raging Storm has declared war on the nearby Kingdom of Tokuji as a method of beginning its conquest of the rest of the island.





	1. Prologue, the Raging Storm

The air across the flat battlefield was silent as a crypt, not even the wind dared to blow, and the rain clouds did not let their rainfall. I stood with my men, ten thousand spears and five thousand archers clad in glittering armour with blue flags.

More men were on their way from the north, at least another twenty thousand men, maybe more.

On the other side of the valley were the armies of the Empire of Hyan, at their head was a woman, about forty years old, sitting atop a white horse and wearing dark armour, similar to that which her men wore. Flags that were a brilliant crimson fluttered in the breeze.

“My name is Li Xue, Empress of Hyan, Commander of Ten Thousand Spears, I am the Raging Storm, and I ride with my marshal and lover, Dai Tu, the Tempest of Steel, the Captain of the Raven’s Call. I bring with me devastation, at my command, your lands will be burned, your crops pillaged and your soldiers overwhelmed.” She paused as her words thundered across the lands, some of my men were looking at each other nervously

“I will give you, both your pathetic excuse for a king and you yourselves, one chance. Surrender while you still have hands to do so, while you still have breath to swear allegiance to me and still have the strength to prostrate yourself before the Raging Storm.” Some of the men looked like they ready to drop their weapons and flee, with their honour being the only thing keeping them in line.

At seeing the lack of people fleeing, “Well then, you’re digging your own graves.” she said. The Raging storm simply shifted on her saddle and kicked her horse forward. Lowering her lance as the white charger thundered across the field, followed by at least two thousand horsemen with red banners and lowered lances.

Barely noticed, behind the lines of the Empress’ archers, a column of cavalrymen bearing recurve bows flanked off to the side. At their head was a man who I had only heard stories about, Zheng the Hunter, only twenty years old but still a force of nature in his own right, his beautiful snow-white hair flowing like a banner. I shook my head and focused on the situation.

The Imperial cavalry closed in, horse archers circling around us and heavy cavalry thundering towards us, shaking the ground.

“Present spears!” I yelled out the order to my men; we had to hold here. The reinforcements would get here. They had to. Our spearmen presented their weapons in the face of the impending doom in front of us, the woman who was the personification of War herself.

Arrows began fettering through the spearmen’s ranks from the horse-archers, allowing the Empress and her cavalry to smash through our lines.

It was by the grace of the Ancestors that I survived the charge as her famous cavalry smashed through the line and then the next line and then the next.

Followed by her loyal infantrymen, led by the Tempest of Steel herself, who was easily seen by the bright red coat she wore over her armour like she was tempting the enemy to strike her, all the while, her Dao carved its way through my men, she was fighting towards me.

I readied my Jian and started fighting towards her, my glittering sword cutting through at least a few soldiers of Hyan, moving towards her. It wasn’t in the way of the Anlu to run from death.

Before I knew it, the fine blade of my Jian had clashed with the thick edge of her Dao, and our swords were locked, we looked at each other. The Tempest of Steel was a beautiful woman, with long brown hair and hazel eyes, though she fixed me with a look that could melt ice.

We disengaged, and she swung her Dao downwards, and I was barely able to block it. I thrust my Jian at her, and she danced away, using her Dao to cut down one of my soldiers.

I lunged at her again. She redirected my sword over her head with hers. She then swung her blade, and I barely jumped out of the way.

I swung my Jian at her, and she ducked underneath it, slashing the blade at my stomach. The wound felt shallow, at least, I think it was shallow.

I wonder why the world was feeling lighter and why I’m having trouble standing, I dropped to my knees, looking at the Tempest of Steel, Dai Tu, the woman who would be the death of me. My vision was blurring, and I wasn’t sure if I should feel despair at this.

I felt my head and eyes grow heavy. Perhaps I should rest.


	2. The Devil Doctor

All seemed to be darkness, my nose with thick with the coppery smell of blood. There was something bulky on my back; I can barely breathe.

I’m sure I heard something, a voice maybe?

“I think this one’s still breathing.” The voice said, I wasn’t sure, but his accent was Sabi. “Elias, get the body off this one.” the voice was close.

There were the sounds of footsteps and then the weight off my back was moved. I tried to open my eyes but was blinded by the light and immediately closed it again.

“This one is reacting to the light. I think he’s alive.” The voice said I could almost hear it now, the voice was male and definitely a Sabi.

I was rolled onto my back by the other person who had been silent all this time.

I think I felt a bit weak. I think it would be best to rest.

* * *

I eventually came to again.

I wasn’t lying in the fields and was instead lying on a kang in a room somewhere. I was only clad in my trousers it seems. I looked down and saw that my abdomen was wrapped in bandages.

The room I was in seemed to be rather small like it was in a small caravan. “Please tell me I didn’t get kidnapped by Sabi travellers,” I muttered to myself.

At this comment, the room opened and in stepped a tiefling, with pale reddish skin, bullhorns, a long red tail and white, shaggy hair. He was dressed in rather thick travelling clothes.

Behind him was a giant of a man dressed in Angshire style clothing with blond hair of all things.

“Welcome back to the land of the living.” The tiefling said, “You were lucky the caravan found you when we did” He added.

I needed to know the basics first “Where exactly am I?”

“You’re on the road, the caravan is heading towards Yexog, hopefully before the Raging Storm sieges the city.” He explained.

“Wait, what about the battle? Did the Kingdom win?” I asked I knew the answer, but I had to be sure.

The tiefling fixed me with a flat look “If your Kingdom won the battle, then you wouldn’t be in this caravan.” He then paused, seemingly remembering something, “but where are my manners. I am Kung Tae-Won,” He said, definitely a Sabi, “My silent friend here is Elias.”

“Is he?” I began, not mentioning one of the obvious implications

“A slave? No, he’s with the caravan, and he’s a mute.” Kung explained simply. “Though you, my friend, haven’t told me your name.”

“It’s Qian Yi,” I answered simply, “none of those fancy titles though, I’m just a captain.”

Elias gave me a look that spoke of admiration. Kung instead gave me a flat look. Admittedly, Anlu captains weren’t the most well respected, though Anlu generals tended to be worse.

“Wait, what happened to the reinforcements?”

“There were reinforcements?”

“Yes, at least ten thousand men were supposed to be reinforcing my position.”

Kung shrugged “I didn’t count that many bodies, it is possible their commander saw a battle going poorly and didn’t take the field.” He poked his head outside of the door large curtains that were part of the cart. “Good luck for you, friend. It seems we’re stopping for a while. I placed what I could find of yours there. Just be warned, I couldn’t recover much.” He pointed at a small chest that looked like it might’ve contained medicine at one point.

“Thank you for your kindness,” I said as the pair left the small room I was in.

I sat up in the bed noticing the spike of pain that came from my abdomen, I wanted to check the wound, but I was smart enough to not try to remove my bandages. Standing up proved to be a challenge in itself, my vision swam immediately as I got up.

After a moment the dizziness faded, and I made my way over the chest. Opening it, I found several things.

First was my Jian, it wasn’t cleaned and still had blood on it, next to a broken sheath. Tch, that wouldn’t do.

I found my brown boots which I quickly put on and then I saw my shirt, or more accurately, what Kung had done to my shirt. It would seem that he rearranged it to be more like a sleeveless vest of some kind and he even gave me a navy sash.

I felt a small amount of rage build up in my soul at this blatant disregard for the garments of an Anlu officer.

I only saw the intent behind the clothing after I put it on. Jian with no sheath, navy sash and light blue vest? I looked like a Sabi traveller. Admittedly, it wouldn’t do much to cover up my accent, but I’m sure that might’ve been that tiefling’s intent. Though maybe he’s a bumbling idiot.

I stepped outside of the cart to be blinded by the sun. After a second of my eyes screaming in horror, my vision adjusted to the light and I saw the entirety of the traveller caravan.

There were at least a dozen carts and a large enough herd of horses to move all of them. The inhabitants were sitting around a small fire pit and were generally doing various tasks, whether it be getting a fire started, trying to fix some of the carts and other things. Though I give my respect to that one traveller, who was simply playing the pipa while all this went on, she was probably the least liked traveller, though people tended to avoid her for reasons I couldn’t conceive.

I decided to walk over to her, she seemed to be interesting, and she was the only one who didn’t seem to be busy with anything that was important.

I got close to her and then felt an odd sensation of sheer wrongness, a feeling that she didn’t seem to notice. She looked up when she saw me, and she was more beautiful than any woman I’ve ever seen.

“Glad to see you’re on your feet again.” She said to me in a sing-song voice, by the Ancestors, It’s a wonder she doesn’t have to keep men away from her with a stick. “Battle and War are never good things.” She was still playing the pipa, and I still felt the sensation of wrongness that wasn’t fading. 

Wait. Something clicked in my head as I ran down everything I could think of that could cause such a feeling “Are you a spirit of some kind?” I asked her.

She looked bemused at that. “Spirits tend not to be this avoided, and I wouldn’t be a good one if I told you that either.”

By the Ancestors, there was an idea of what she might be “Are you a Magicless?” I asked. Resisting the urge to unsheath my Jian. Magicless were wild creatures posing as humans, after all, they had no connection to the world of magic, and they were all mad as well, the demons wouldn’t want their souls and neither would the ancestors, though according to some, they just had no souls.

She stopped playing her instrument and started clapping politely, like she was mocking me, “Congratulations, you put two and two together and figured out that it was four. I’m not sure if I should be happy or sad about that.” 

My hand was going closer towards the Jian, I knew that if I killed the Magicless, I would probably be kicked out by the caravan, but on the other hand, they are mad creatures.

“Please kill me, put me out of my eternal misery,” she said, her tone was utterly flat, and her eyes spoke of a clear understanding of what I was considering. It was like I saw the other side of a person, with her calm front being only a ruse and this was her true personality.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, turning I saw that Kung was looking at me and nodding “Don’t mind Kae Seong, she’s like that sometimes, we call her Many-faced Seong.” the tiefling said, “looking somewhat pleased with finding me. "I just need to explain to you some ground rules.”

He walked away and motioned that we walk together “Yi, if anyone asks, you are just ‘Yi’, just another runaway who joined the caravan, not a captain and unquestionably not a soldier.” He gave me a look that was somehow both hard and friendly as if the two qualifiers for a look could co-exist, which was a concept I would have to consider later.

“I understand.”

“And also, don’t bother talking to Seong unless you want to get confused.” He added like it was a serious warning.

“What exactly is her deal anyway? I know she’s Magicless but do they usually act like that?”

“Magicless act how they want to, from what little I can tell, they consider everyone to be wearing a mask to hide their true emotions. I’m not entirely sure if the Seong who jokes about death is the real one or if that is another mask.”

I sure hoped that it wouldn’t take long to get to the port city. I could hide from them then.


End file.
